Friday Five - Things I Love About Being a Coached Athlete

As most of my readers know, I took the plunge around New Year and hired my long time friend and awesome triathlon coach, Anthony Bagnetto, to be the keeper of all this hot mess.  A coach is something that most triathletes wish they had - even the beginners.  But it is an expense - added onto the existing bills of being a multisport athlete it is something that is often passed by as being too hard to finance.  Though really, coaching fees can break down to be about the same amount that you might spend on having the neighborhood kid cut the grass each weekend, or on your morning cup of coffee at D&D (not that I'd advocate anyone going without coffee.  Just make it yourself).  I'd like to share my reasons that it is 100% worth it, and what I've gained in my last 4 months of being a coached athlete.

1.  Confidence.  I no longer hem and haw endlessly about what I should be doing for workouts.  I don't waste hours pouring over plans on beginnertriathlete.com wondering what I should pick, and what will happen if I pick incorrectly.  My coach knows me, my abilities, and designs my workouts to fit my goals.  letting someone else drive this one aspect of planning my life takes a lot of weight off my mental shoulders.

2.  Time - see the above.  I have my work projects to schedule, my kids various activities and appointments to schedule, I even occasionally (rarely) have a social life to schedule.  Turning my fitness calendar over to someone else means that I don't have to worry about all those boxes.  I just have to execute what is written.  Yes, I still have to DO the workouts, but the planning is easier.

My week in training peaks.

3.  Injury prevention.  As my coach stated in his interview earlier on this blog, a big mistakes that beginner athletes make is over-training.  Trying to do too much, too fast.  I am flagrantly guilty of this - landing myself on crutches for weeks with an overuse injury at the end of last season.  One of my primary goals if this training season is to not repeat that mistake - to stay injury free.  My coach, having years of experience, can keep an eye on my shenanigans and watch for over-training.

4.  Mental release.  Triathlon can take a tremendous amount of headspace.  The minutia of how my training is going: how my morning run felt, if/when the cramp in my calf is going away, and the exact average time of my 100m swim split is information that is really only interesting to me.  Sure, my husband is greatly supportive, as is my family and the few remaining friends than haven't been driven off by seeing me in spandex.  But having a coach means that there is someone that is JUST as interesting in these things as you are, and that you can talk to.  Sparing unnecessary strain on all the other non-triathlon relationships in your life...

5.  Inspiration.  My coach is currently training for his second Ironman race in July - IM Lake Placid.  (He seems to go for the hilly courses.  Crazy man!).  It is pretty difficult to whine about feeling tired after your 3 mile run and 10 mile bike when your coach rebuts with statements like, "Yeah I biked 50 miles today" or "I'm still sore from my marathon this past weekend".  While I don't aspire to his level of athletic feats, it is pretty awesome to have someone to look to.  Or someone to text with when we are both tired and nursing well-deserved beers on Sunday nights after our long runs.

Shameless plug - Anthony is accepting new clients, both in person (NYC area) and as online clients (as I am).  Check him out at: http://www.anthonybagnetto.com/fitness/

Have a great weekend everyone!